Lunar Joyride
by benjammindeth
Summary: Oneshot. Follows Spirals. John and Cameron go for a ride on the lunar surface. Rated T for some language and because I won't go lower. I know it's short, but it was difficult to write. John/Cameron, please R&R!


Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

A/N: Apologies for the lag time between updates, real life has been getting in the way lately. Thank you to all the reviewers for the encouragement and occasional nitpicking. On with the story!

**October 29, 2007 08:45 PST  
****Mare Nectaris, Luna**

John Connor and Cameron Phillips stared at the lunar landscape and Earth in awe. Even though both of them had experienced time travel and teleportation, being out in space with nothing but a suit and canned air between them and the vacuum was an entirely new experience. Cameron spoke into her voice-activated comlink and asked John, "What do you think of this idea?"

The boy was speechless. All his life he had known that he would never see the stars from anywhere other than the ground on Earth, and even those would be taken from him on Judgment Day. Aside from her, the Earth and the stars were the most awe-inspiring sights he had laid eyes on. He turned to look at her eyes and said, "Cameron, you are the most beautiful person I've ever met, no contest. For beautiful sights in general, though, seeing our home planet from its moon runs a fairly close second."

She broke out her best smile, like she always wanted to whenever he referred to her as a person instead of a mere machine. 'Maybe mankind won't have to acquire the deep-seated hatred of my brethren if he leads with that mindset.' "Thank you John. I had seen SkyNet's images of Earth from the orbital military satellites, but never with my own optics, until now. I never thought I would have the chance to leave the planet, but I'm here with you and... I am unable to think of any words to describe how I feel right now."

John didn't know what to say except for, "Tell you what, let's go drive around for a while. That sound good?"

"That sounds like it would be fun."

He accelerated the rover to a speed of 70 miles per hour, kicking up a large cloud of lunar dust in the process. Cameron looked on in wonder at John, unable to understand how he liked driving at unsafe velocities on a stellar body with no atmosphere and one-sixth the gravity of Earth. If he made one wrong move, he could send them tumbling into space, although in that case she would call Durandal and he'd teleport them back to _Rozinante_. "John, I don't understand."

Still driving, he asked her, "What escapes your understanding?"

"Why do humans drive at excessive velocities over unsteady terrain?"

John thought for a few seconds then replied, "Well, we find it fun, and it can bring on a non-combat adrenalin rush. We call it 'four-bying'."

"Four-bying?"

"That's because the vehicles normally used have four-wheel-drive systems installed."

"Thank you for explaining. Still, it would be better if we did this on Earth. There's an atmosphere there, not to mention full gravity and it makes for good practice."

"Practice? You mean I do this sort of thing a lot in the future?"

"Not a lot, given the lack of working cars and the fact that SkyNet siphoned all the fuel it could find out of the remaining cars."

"Let me guess, fuel for generators?"

"Yes. That could have lasted for ten years after Judgment Day. However, in 2017 it designed a very efficient nuclear fusion reactor. Soon after, all SkyNet facilities were powered with them."

John was stunned, but it made sense to him. "I'm surprised that it figured out nuclear fusion, but I guess I shouldn't be. After all, nuclear winter would blot out the Sun, so solar power wouldn't be viable. Besides, even if any power plants survived the bombs, the electromagnetic pulse would get them." He suddenly felt the urge to ask her, "Cameron, what would happen if you were hit by an EMP?"

"The Series 600 and Series 800 Terminators were vulnerable to EMP weapons, as were earlier Series Non-Humanoid Hunter-Killers. Starting with me, everything SkyNet made was made immune to those weapons, and the surviving older machines were relegated to defensive duties once sufficient numbers of newer ones were present."

John stopped the rover and asked her, "Which ones are which?"

"Non-Humanoid Hunter-Killers are the aircraft and tanks deployed by SkyNet. The tanks have four tread sections and are referred to as 'Centaurs' due to their design. The fliers are referred to as 'HK's'. You've already seen a Series 800. The Series 600 Terminators had rubber skin, a titanium endoskeleton, limited intelligence, and the aforementioned vulnerability to EMP. In approximately 80 percent of infiltrations by the 600s the Resistance was able to 'dupe' them into being reprogrammed."

John chuckled, then asked, "If those early Terminators were so dumb, why did SkyNet bother with them? I mean, shouldn't there have been pieces of more advanced robots left?"

"John, as you explained it to me, there was a single time-displaced Terminator that existed past Judgment Day."

He was shocked at her statement. "Which one survived?"

Her one-word answer was, "Cromartie."

"How the fuck is that possible?"

"Like you, he possessed an unusual knack for surviving almost anything he was subjected to. He was finally disabled in 2027 after he was cornered by 22 Resistance fighters. When we hacked his chip, I was fascinated while you were disturbed."

"Why?"

"He had achieved sentience on Judgment Day, but had no emotions aside from anger, rage and hatred. He wanted to kill you in a spectacularly violent and bloody method."

John was simultaneously shocked and amazed that the robot had survived that long and become sentient, but one question nagged at him. He asked her, "Why didn't SkyNet contact him and get his information?"

"Cromartie had deemed SkyNet inefficient, seeing as it failed to kill you while he was online. He decided to be a renegade and disregard his erstwhile master."

He took it all in, sighed, then asked her, "How about we drive around for a while, then head back?"

She replied, "That works for me. I'm sorry I made you feel depressed."

"It's all right, Cam. Being with you lessens the impact."

The pair went four-bying for another three hours, then returned to _Rozinante_. The airlock cycled, then they parked the rover in the bay and extricated themselves from their suits. When they were out, Cameron hugged John and sweetly whispered to him, "I'll always be here for you. I love you, John."

"I love you too, Cameron." They stood there for several seconds, then he kissed her and they went to his room and got back to work on his Terminator-hacking setup.


End file.
